


Fool's Gold

by SecretMaker



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Kuroo is a dumb, M/M, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-31
Updated: 2016-05-31
Packaged: 2018-07-11 11:16:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7047424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SecretMaker/pseuds/SecretMaker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU where soulmate tattoos work like mood rings, changing color based on your soulmate's emotions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fool's Gold

Tetsurou was used to the bright colors flashing on his arm. Ever since he could remember, his soulmate had been a vibrant creature, switching between emotions faster than Tetsurou could entirely keep track of. Most of the time they seemed happy: cheerful yellows and oranges and pinks, the occasional serene blue or contented green. Every now and then there would be a slash of red or a dark, storm cloud purple, but they usually faded.  
  
Kenma hated it. He would stare at the ever-changing lines on Tetsurou’s skin and wrinkle his nose.  
  
“Whoever they are, they’re too noisy,” Kenma said one day when Tetsurou asked him what was wrong. “I don’t like the idea of your soulmate being someone I can’t stand.”  
  
Tetsurou hadn’t thought of that. Soulmates were supposed to be the perfect match for an individual, after all. There were some cases of people having multiple soulmates, but it didn’t happen often. And Tetsurou knew he only had one.  
  
The thought of his soulmate and his best friend not getting along made Tetsurou sick to his stomach. He tried not to think about it too much, and as the years went on and Kenma started making friends on the Nekoma volleyball team, he put it out of his mind.  
  
-  
  
Kenma was missing again. Tetsurou had lectured him for most of the two-hour train ride to Miyagi, warning him not to leave the group and wander off on his own. It was one thing to do it in Saitama, where he knew the area and many of the locals knew him. But they had never been to this part of the country before, and Tetsurou didn’t want to take any chances.  
  
It had taken Kenma all of ten minutes to get lost.  
  
“Kai, make sure everyone else makes it to the training center,” he called. Kai gave him a nod and a wave and he jogged off in search of his missing charge.  
  
It was cooler here than in the city, though a couple minutes of jogging was still enough that Tetsurou had to take off his jacket. As he did so he caught the excited swirling of his tattoo, a golden-yellow that was more and more common these days. He smiled to himself as he tied the jacket around his waist and kept searching.  
  
He found Kenma at last, sitting on a garden wall and talking to some orange-haired shrimp. Ordinarily he would have paused to marvel at the sight of Kenma - Kenma! - talking to a stranger, but they were cutting it close to the start time of their practice match.  
  
“Kenma!” he called. Kenma looked up in surprise, as though he had lost track of what was happening.  
  
“Ah, it’s Kuro,” he said in that tone of voice that told Tetsurou he hadn’t doubted for a moment that Tetsurou would find him. He stood, swinging his bag onto his shoulder and meandering over to Tetsurou. He glanced back at the other boy and waved. “Well, until next time, Shouyou,” he said. He turned and walked up to Tetsurou without a care in the world.  
  
“Don’t go wandering wherever you like,” Tetsurou scolded as he steered Kenma back toward the main streets.  
  
“Sorry,” Kenma said, not sounding sorry at all.  
  
“Who was that?” Tetsurou asked. Kenma shrugged.  
  
“Shouyou,” he said. “He’s on Karasuno’s team.”  
  
“You seemed awfully friendly with him,” Tetsurou teased. Kenma only shrugged.  
  
“He’s nice,” he said. Tetsurou smiled. It was nice to see Kenma so at ease with someone he had just met.  
  
“Well, just promise me you won’t go easy on your new boyfriend when we play him on Thursday,” Tetsurou said. Kenma rolled his eyes.  
  
-  
  
The practice match with Karasuno was more fun than Tetsurou had expected. Kenma’s shrimpy new friend was a blazing star, darting all over the court with yells and explosive spikes almost too fast to see. Tetsurou watched with a burning pride as Kenma dissected the play and set Inuoka to shadow the shrimp. When the game was over, Tetsurou was exhausted and satisfied, filled with the sort of excitement for the future that he hadn’t felt in a good long time. He stood with Kenma outside the Karasuno gym, watching as his team made their goodbyes. He couldn’t help but notice the way Kenma lingered to speak to the shrimp, the way he broke into an honest smile, the way Kenma’s phone stayed in his pocket the entire walk back to the station. Not wanting to ruin it, he waited until they were alone back at the center where they were staying to bring it up.  
  
“So,” he said casually, leaning against a wall above where Kenma was sitting.  
  
“Don’t,” Kenma muttered. Tetsurou only grinned.  
  
“Oh come on,” Tetsurou teased. “You _smiled_ at him. You said you looked forward to playing him again. For crying out loud, Kenma, you gave him your phone number!”  
  
“He’s nice,” Kenma reiterated. “Why are you so worked up about this? I thought you wanted me to make new friends.”  
  
“I do!” Tetsurou cried. “So don’t blame me for getting excited when you do!” Kenma gave him a knowing look, and all the fight drained out of him at once. He slid down the wall until he was sitting next to Kenma, his legs splayed out in front of him. “I’ve never seen you hit it off with someone so fast,” he said softly.   
  
“Shouyou’s not going to replace you,” Kenma said. He leaned against Tetsurou’s arm, still looking down at his game. “Besides, I’m the one who should be worried here.” Tetsurou snorted.  
  
“He’ll love you,” he assured Kenma. “Hell, he probably already does.” Kenma sat upright and turned so that he could stare at Tetsurou for a moment. He shook his head and snorted, flopping back into his original position.  
  
“You are so dense,” he muttered.  
  
“Am not,” Tetsurou argued.  
  
“Are too.” Kenma’s voice grew soft around the edges.  
  
“Am not.”  
  
Kenma was asleep before he could answer. Tetsurou smiled and chuckled quietly. He stayed where he was for a moment, enjoying the quiet and the company before he had to scoop Kenma up and carry him back inside.  
  
-  
  
It was a couple of months before they saw Karasuno again, this time at the Fukurodani Group summer training camp. Tetsurou noticed that their two star players were late, mostly because he noticed the way Kenma seemed vastly less interested in the camp once he realized they weren’t there yet. When they finally did arrive in their blaze of glory, Tetsurou didn’t miss the way Kenma’s eyes lit up. He filed the thought away with a glance to the finger of color just curling out of the back of Kenma’s shirt collar. He turned back to his own game.  
  
The matches at Fukurodani Group camps were intense, but nothing could beat the extra practices with Bokuto after. He wasn’t all that surprised one day shortly after he had cajoled Karasuno’s apathetic middle blocker into joining them to see Kenma’s friend wandering in as well.  
  
Hinata was fun to practice with. He and Bokuto hit it off almost straight away, fluttering around each other in a way that made Tetsurou have to smile at them. Tetsurou didn’t miss the way even Akaashi seemed drawn in by Hinata’s brilliant smile.  
  
When the girls came in to usher them out of the gym, Hinata hung back. Tetsurou watched as he stared down at his palm, his face serious.  
  
“Hey,” he said softly. Hinata jumped and looked up at him as though expecting a fight. “There’s always tomorrow. We aren’t done just yet.” Hinata gave him a smile that could rival the noon sun and took off after the others. Tetsurou chuckled to himself as he followed.  
  
The rest of the camp followed in much the same pattern. Matches and practices and penalties and more practices, and all over again the next day. Kenma started coming to their nighttime sessions in the third gym, sitting off to one side and playing his game, or sometimes watching the match with those sharp eyes of his. It didn’t escape Tetsurou’s notice that most of the time those eyes were on Hinata.  
  
“So,” he said one day when he and Kenma were the last ones left in the changing room. “You’ve been hanging around Shrimpy an awful lot lately.”  
  
“And?” Kenma droned. Tetsurou grinned.  
  
“And nothing, just curious about it.” Kenma sighed.  
  
“I want to get to know him,” he said. “Since I’m probably going to be seeing a lot of him in the future.”  
  
“That’s an understatement,” Tetsurou said with a grin. “When should we expect the happy announcement?”   
  
“What announcement?” Kenma asked, giving him a puzzled look.  
  
“Well, if I’m not invited to the wedding, I at least expect an announcement,” Tetsurou said. Kenma’s brow furrowed further.  
  
“Whose wedding?” he asked. Tetsurou snorted.  
  
“Yours and Shrimpy’s,” he said.   
  
“Why would I marry Shouyou?” Kenma asked. “Kuro, you’re not making any sense.”  
  
“I’m making perfect sense,” Tetsurou argued. “You’re the one who’s obviously infatuated.” A little of the confusion on Kenma’s face cleared.  
  
“I already told you, Kuro, you don’t have anything to worry about,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere, and I’m not getting in your way.”  
  
“Who said anything about getting in my way?” Tetsurou asked. He felt his own brow wrinkle as he stared at his friend. “If anything, I’d be the one getting in your way.” Kenma narrowed his eyes.  
  
“I don’t think we’re talking about the same thing anymore,” he said.  
  
“Aren’t we?” Tetsurou asked. Kenma just rolled his eyes and walked away. More confused than ever, Tetsurou finished changing and made his way into Nekoma’s room by himself.  
  
-  
  
When the camp ended, Tetsurou wasn’t sure why he felt so torn. It was like something was missing, something he had only just found and then immediately misplaced. The colors on his arm still swirled and flashed brightly, but something seemed off about them. He threw himself into practice, but it didn’t seem as fun as it had before. It was after one particularly unsatisfying practice that he overheard some of the team talking.  
  
“He’s been like this ever since the end of the training camp,” Yaku was saying. “It has to have been someone there.”  
  
“We’ve had practice matches with Fukurodani and Shinzen,” Kai said.   
  
“And he had met everyone from Ubagawa before,” Yamamoto added.   
  
“Which leaves the crows,” Yaku said. “The only ones he really spent time with were the captain, that tall blocker, and number ten.”  
  
“You’ve seen his tattoo. It’s always always all bright and happy,” Yamamoto said. “It’s gotta be the shorty.”  
  
Tetsurou wasn’t sure why his chest suddenly felt tight. He knew about Kenma and Hinata; hearing someone else come to the same conclusion shouldn’t have hurt. So he shoved it down deep inside and strolled into the locker room. The other three fell silent as soon as he entered and he shot them a genial smile.  
  
“What’re we up to?” he asked cheerfully.  
  
“Nothing,” Yamamoto said, too quickly. Yaku glared at him. Tetsurou only smiled.  
  
“Kenma is a very private person,” he said, facing his locker as he tugged off his shirt. “Digging around in his affairs is not only rude, but very nerve-racking for him. And I know no one on this team would want to make him feel uncomfortable.”  
  
“We weren’t talking about Kenma” Yaku said. Tetsurou only smiled at him.  
  
“I never said you were,” he said. “Just making observations.” Dressed, he scooped up his bag and strolled out of the club room. Kenma was supposed to be waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs, but Tetsurou didn’t put it past him to just leave.  
  
He found him tapping away on his phone with a frown.  
  
“Trouble in paradise?” Tetsurou asked. Kenma paused to turn his frown on Tetsurou, then went back to his texting.  
  
“It’s just Shouyou,” he said. Tetsurou snorted.  
  
“’Just Shouyou.’ You say that like it’s no big deal.” Kenma’s frown deepened.   
  
“Does it bother you that I text him?” he asked.   
  
“Of course not,” Tetsurou said. He adjusted the strap of his bag, frowning at the way his tattoo was a dull grey-blue. “I’m just giving you a hard time. What are you texting about?”  
  
“He’s worried that he’s done something to upset someone,” Kenma said.   
  
“That scary setter of his?” Tetsurou asked. Kenma shook his head. “Well, knowing Hinata, it’s probably not as bad as he thinks. No one can stay mad at that shrimp for long.” The corner of Kenma’s lip twitched. He sent off a new message, his thumbs moving rapidly across his phone screen. The colors of Tetsurou’s tattoo cleared and brightened. Tetsurou shrugged at the coincidence.  
  
“Akaashi wanted me to invite you to a see a movie with him and Bokuto this weekend,” Kenma said suddenly. He sounded happy when he said it.  
  
“What movie?” he asked, wondering why Akaashi or Bokuto hadn’t just texted him directly.  
  
“Some psychological thriller,” Kenma said. “You don’t have to come.” Tetsurou made a face.  
  
“If I don’t go, will you?” he asked. Kenma hummed.  
  
“Probably,” he said. Tetsurou blinked in surprise.  
  
“Have fun, then,” he said slowly. Kenma nodded, eyes still on his phone. Tetsurou tried to shrug off the odd feeling that always came with Kenma making the decision to socialize on his own.  
  
-  
  
Tetsurou’s mood was getting worse and worse. He found himself struggling to pay attention in class or in practice, always feeling listless and ready to bolt at a moment’s notice. And it seemed that whoever the tattoo on his arm belonged to, they were feeling it as well. Most days it stayed happy and bright for hours on end, but then all of a sudden it would plummet into a dreary grey, or brown, or dull, midnight blue. Tetsurou frowned at it one day in class, trying for the thousandth time to make out its shape.  
  
For a while during the training camp he had been certain he could pick it out. It had looked like a bird to him then, flying proud and stark against the backdrop of his skin. But now he looked at it and only saw random swirls. Frustrated, he let his head drop to his desk with a dull thunk.  
  
Hinata started appearing more and more often in Tetsurou’s life. It wasn’t unexpected, seeing him and Kenma together so much, but Tetsurou couldn’t help the stab of surprised gratitude whenever they invited him along as well. The three of them started spending at least two weekends a month together, at cafes or movie theaters or the big park near their neighborhood. Still, Tetsurou couldn’t help but feel like he was getting n their way.  
  
“You know,” he said one day as he and Kenma walked back from seeing Hinata off at the station, “you don’t have to invite me on all of your dates. It’s okay if the two of you want to do something without me sometimes.” Kenma gave him a look that was at once searching and careful. It was a look Tetsurou had gotten a lot lately.  
  
“I don’t really feel like going out with just him,” he said slowly. He faced forward again, the set of his shoulders easy. “We’d both get lost.” Tetsurou snorted.  
  
“Well, you’re not wrong about that,” he said. “Just let me know if I’m overstepping, okay? And don’t feel like you’re obligated to include me.”  
  
“I’ve never felt obligated to include you,” Kenma said. “I hate including you.”  
  
“Love you too, Kenma.”  
  
-  
  
Two weeks later, Tetsurou went to pick Hinata up alone.  
  
“Hey, short stuff,” he said when Hinata came bounding up to him, smile at full brightness. “Kenma’s going to meet us at the theater. He had something to do with his aunt around there.” Hinata only smiled wider.  
  
“I know,” he said. “He texted me earlier.” Tetsurou smiled.  
  
“We’ve got a little time to kill before the movie starts,” he said as they set off down the street. “Is there anything you wanted to do?” Hinata shrugged.  
  
“I’m open to whatever,” he said. Tetsurou couldn’t help but smile. “I just wanted to spend some time with you guys today.” Tetsurou tried not to feel guilty at that. He just grinned wider and led the way to the local shopping center.  
  
There was an arcade just to one side of the theater. Hinata gasped when he saw it, grabbing Tetsurou by the sleeve and tugging him inside.  
  
“I love these places,” he cried. “The one in Sendai’s got this game where you have to knock over these blocks using a little wrecking ball thing. I’ve never won it, but I’ve come real close a whole bunch of times.”   
  
“Well, that’s no good,” Tetsurou said, grabbing Hinata’s shoulder. “Watch the master at work.”  
  
There was a game like Hinata was describing, tucked back in a corner of the arcade. Tetsurou had been here more times than he cared to remember, trying to win a game system for Kenma and then a crappy owl keychain for Bokuto. They had restocked it with a bunch of useless-looking items, but Hinata’s eyes were wide. He pressed his face to the glass, staring up at a creepy-looking plush cat. Tetsurou shook his head fondly and dropped a few coins in the slot. The game came to life, blaring light and music as obnoxiously as he could as Tetsurou took hold of the joystick.  
  
There wasn’t much skill to this game, only a learning curve and a bit of luck. Tetsurou maneuvered the trapped ball somewhere above and a few inches to the left of the stack of blocks. He gave Hinata a grin as he slammed the button, sending the ball flying. It crashed into the blocks and toppled the tower. An automated voice congratulated Tetsurou with his choice of prizes. Tetsurou led the selector over to the plush that Hinata had been staring at and slapped the button again. He snatched the cat from the prize door and presented it to Hinata with a triumphant smile.  
  
Hinata was looking at him with entire galaxies in his eyes, mouth hanging open as he stared.   
  
“Take it,” Tetsurou said, holding it out a little more.  
  
“Thank you,” Hinata whispered. He reached out and took the plush from him, hand shaking just slightly. He held it close to himself.   
  
“You don’t have to look so surprised,” Tetsurou muttered. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “C’mon, Kenma should be at the theater by now.” He turned on his heel, striding away quickly and trying not to remember the way Hinata had smiled at him. Hinata scurried after him and he slowed his pace to match his companion’s shorter strides. Hinata was staring at the ground with his lower lip between his teeth, cradling the plush like it was something precious. Tetsurou tried not to think about that.  
  
Kenma was standing in a shadowed alcove near the concessions, staring around at the crowds with sharp eyes and hands worrying the hem of his shirt. Tetsurou said nothing as he joined the two of them, only reaching out to settle his hand on the back of Kenma’s neck while Hinata chattered mindlessly on Kenma’s other side. Slowly, the tension drained from Kenma’s shoulders and he started filling the little gaps in Hinata’s stories with one- or two-word replies. Tetsurou smiled. Hinata really was a good thing for Kenma.  
  
He saw the moment of hesitation when they went to choose their seats in the theater. Kenma tried to step past Tetsurou, clearly trying to include him. It was obvious to the trained eye that he wasn’t comfortable with this arrangement, though, so Tetsurou flopped into the seat on the far right, propping his feet up and giving Kenma no room to slip past him.  
  
“Popcorn sits in the middle,” he said, nodding at the tub in Kenma’s hand. Kenma raised an eyebrow; they all knew he would be the only one eating it. Still, he took the offering and curled into the middle seat, leaning his head on Tetsurou’s shoulder gratefully. Tetsurou spent the duration of the movie pretending he couldn’t see Kenma’s hand curled in Hinata’s.   
  
-  
  
It was a long weekend for Hinata, so when Tetsurou wandered into Kenma’s house on Sunday night he wasn’t surprised to see an extra pair of sneakers lined up by the door. He nudged his own into place next to Hinata’s and slipped on the house slippers that were always there for them. With a wave to Kenma’s mom he trotted up the stairs.  
  
Something had been off all day, from the discontented feeling following Tetsurou like the storm clouds gathering above to the dull grey of his tattoo. Some time with Kenma and Hinata would be just the thing to lift his spirits.  
  
Kenma’s door was ever so slightly ajar when Tetsurou reached it, familiar voices filtering from the other side. He wasn’t sure why he stopped, but when he heard Hinata choke out a sob he was glad he did.  
  
“I just don’t understand,” Hinata cried. Kenma murmured something too low for Tetsurou to make out, and Hinata answered with another sob. Tetsurou bit his lip and settled a hand on the door. He didn’t want to interrupt any sort of intimate moment between the two of them, but everything in him was crying out for him to go and comfort Hinata, to make him stop crying by any means necessary. One more shaky gasp, and Tetsurou couldn’t hold himself back anymore. He pushed the door open.  
  
Kenma and Hinata were sitting on the floor beside Kenma’s bed, Hinata curled in a tight ball with his hands fisted in his hair. Kenma had a hand on his shoulder, his face stricken.  
  
“Kuro.” Kenma was first to notice his entry, but he didn’t look happy to see him. He glanced to Hinata and bit his lip. “I don’t-”  
  
“Are you okay?” Tetsurou asked, crouching carefully next to him. “I mean, obviously not, but are you hurt?”   
  
Hinata raised his head slowly, looking up at Tetsurou. His eyes were red and puffy, and there was a wild light in them that made Tetsurou think he could do absolutely anything in that moment. It was not a pleasant thought.   
  
“Kuro,” Kenma said sharply, but Tetsurou didn’t have time to think about it. Hinata burst to his feet in one abrupt movement. Before Tetsurou could react, he was out of Kenma’s bedroom and sprinting down the hall. Tetsurou stumbled to his feet to go after him, but was stopped short by a hand in the back of his shirt. The front door opened and closed, and Hinata was gone.  
  
“Kenma, wha-”  
  
“Shut up.” Tetsurou had never heard Kenma sound so angry before. He closed his mouth with an audible click and craned his neck to look at his friend.   
  
Kenma was fuming, glaring up at Tetsurou. He had always seemed so small before, so tiny and fragile, but right now there was nothing small about him. He had drawn himself up to his full height, shoulders thrown back and chin jutting forward.   
  
“Kenma?” Tetsurou murmured.   
  
“Let him go,” Kenma said. His voice trembled with rage. “You’ve done enough damage.” Tetsurou turned around fully.  
  
“Can you tell me what I did wrong?” he asked. Kenma took a shaky breath and closed his eyes, visibly swallowing down his anger.    
  
“You know, I can’t tell sometimes if you’re cruel, or just willfully obtuse,” Kenma snarled. “There’s no way you haven’t realized how he feels about you.”  
  
“How he feels abou- Kenma, what are you talking about?” Tetsurou asked. Kenma stared at him.  
  
“You really don’t know,” he said. “You have no idea, do you?”  
  
“Kenma, please,” Tetsurou begged. Kenma exhaled sharply, somewhere between a sigh and a snort.  
  
“Kuro, you’re his soulmate,” he said. “And you’ve been treating him like a kid brother.”  
  
“Kenma, what are you talking about?” Tetsurou demanded again. “Everyone knows the two of you are soulmates!”  
  
“No, we’re not!” Kenma shouted. “Everyone knows we’re not! The whole damn prefecture knows, because Bokuto can’t keep his stupid mouth shut about it!”  
  
“What does Bokuto have to do with anything?”   
  
“He’s my soulmate!” Kenma yelled. “Him and Akaashi, they’re both my soulmates! And everyone knows that Shouyou is yours! And you’ve been treating him like he’s nothing!”  
  
“I’ve been treating him like he’s my best friend’s soulmate!” Tetsurou argued. “Because he has to be! You’re perfect for each other!”  
  
“Kuro.” Kenma, evidently done with the shouting, spoke softly as he sat on the edge of his bed. “How long have you been pretending not to have feelings for him?”  
  
“I don’t have feelings for him!” Tetsurou yelled. He slumped against the wall, burying his face in his hands. “I don’t have feelings for him, because I thought he was yours.”  
  
“He’s his own,” Kenma said. “He doesn’t belong to you, but he sure as hell wants to feel like he does.” For a long moment, there was nothing between them but the rumble of distant thunder.  
  
“I can’t be his soulmate,” Tetsurou murmured at last. “He doesn’t deserve that.”  
  
“What he doesn’t deserve is to be thinking that the one person who should understand him doesn’t want him. He doesn’t deserve to be alone somewhere in an unfamiliar city,” Kenma said. The thunder rumbled again. “In the rain,” he added. Tetsurou’s head snapped up and he looked at the window. The first few drops of rain spattered against the glass, and Tetsurou was already moving. Without a word of farewell to Kenma or his parents, Tetsurou sprinted down the stairs, only pausing long enough to shove his feet into his shoes before he was out the door.  
  
There weren’t many places nearby that Hinata knew well. The station, the park, the street where Tetsurou and Kenma lived. As Tetsurou thought, the rain began to fall in earnest. He swore and picked up his pace, deciding to try the park first, and then the station.  
  
He didn’t want to think about what would happen if he wasn’t there.  
  
The park was outside of Tetsurou and Kenma’s neighborhood, sitting just off the main road into town. In the dark, with rain and wind lashing at Tetsurou’s clothes and hair, the familiar haven was transformed into somewhere menacing and unknown. Tetsurou grit his teeth and shoved away the hair that the rain had plastered to his face. A flash of blue and grey caught his eye.  
  
The bird - and he wondered now how he had ever thought it was anything but a bird- tattooed on Tetsurou’s forearm had never looked so small and pathetic. It was the dull color of weather-soaked concrete, tinged around the edges with a panicked green. Tetsurou realized with a jolt that if this mark was Hinata’s, then all the unpleasant colors he had seen from it lately had been the result of Hinata’s unhappiness. He grit his teeth and stepped into the park.   
  
Half his childhood had been spent here. There was an open field - not that large, but to eight-year-old Tetsurou, it had been a kingdom - where he had first tried spiking a volleyball. There were the swings where he met Kenma, dragged to the park at his mother’s insistence that he at least try to make new friends. There was the jungle gym where Tetsurou would climb and sit for hours on end, pretending not to be lonely in the first few months after he had moved here, before he had met Kenma. And there, sitting in what little shelter was offered under the picnic table, was Hinata.  
  
Tetsurou didn’t say anything as he crawled under the table. While Hinata could sit upright with his legs curled to his chest and stay mostly dry, Tetsurou was really too large to fit. He huddled in as best he could, but his legs were still sticking out from under the table and his stomach was pressed against the cold wet ground. He sighed softly and folded his arms to rest his chin on.   
  
“I found Kenma here once,” he said. “Some asshole teenagers were picking on him, back when we were kids. He crawled under this table and wouldn’t come back out for hours. It was a lot bigger under here then. Drier, too.”  
  
“What do you want, Kuroo-san?” Hinata growled. Tetsurou sighed.  
  
“To apologize,” he said. “And to make sure you were okay.”  
  
“You don’t have anything to apologize for,” Hinata mumbled. Tetsurou unfolded his arms, stretching the left out in front of him. It shone faintly in the dimness, swirling grey and blue and lined with black.  
  
“I think I do,” he whispered. “Just because I didn’t do it on purpose doesn’t mean I didn’t do it.” Hinata stiffened and turned his head away.  
  
“I thought you were laughing at me,” he said. “We’d be out together, and it would be so much fun, and then I’d start thinking that maybe something would change, but it never did. And then I’d get home, and your mark would be as happy as ever, and I knew you didn’t care.”  
  
“Of course I cared,” Tetsurou cried. “I cared that you seemed happy, and that you were spending time with me.” He sighed, dropping his forehead onto his arm. “Shouyou, what you have to understand about me is that I’m an idiot. I was happy because I was relieved that my best friend found his soulmate, but he was still making time for me. I was happy because I saw how happy he was.”  
  
“What do Bokuto-san and Akaashi-san have to do with any of this?” Hinata demanded. Tetsurou groaned.  
  
“I told you, I’m an idiot,” he whined. “I didn’t know about them. I thought you were Kenma’s soulmate.”  
  
“Why would I be Kenma’s soulmate?” Hinata yelled.  
  
“Why would you be mine?” Tetsurou shouted back. “Kenma makes a hell of a lot more sense than me!”  
  
“Says who?”  
  
“I don’t know!” Tetsurou closed his eyes. “I don’t know,” he whispered. “All I know is that you’re the most incredible person I’ve ever met and I’m terrified that I’m going to fuck everything up. And it looks like I already have. So, sorry.”  
  
Tetsurou marked the time with the beating of his heart and the rhythm of the passing storm. Hinata said nothing, so Tetsurou said nothing. They stayed under that picnic table as the downpour eased to a steady rain. There was movement beside him, then a blossom of pain as Hinata smacked the back of his head. Tetsurou opened his eyes and his mouth, ready to complain, but stopped at the sight of Hinata in the poor light, watching the rain.  
  
“I forgive you,” Hinata said. “And I’m sorry, for making you come after me like this.” Tetsurou shook his head.  
  
“I’m just glad you’re okay.” He shivered, realizing all at once how wet and cold he was. “But we should get back inside. You’ve got dry clothes at Kenma’s, right?” Hinata nodded, biting his lip and looking down. Tetsurou began wriggling his way out.  
  
“Kuroo-san?” Hinata whispered. Tetsurou stopped in his tracks.  
  
“What is it?” he asked softly.   
  
“Can we go to your house instead?” The question was so quiet that Tetsurou almost didn’t hear it, and he later thought that that was what made him agree.  
  
“We can go wherever you want,” he said. Hinata nodded and crawled out from under the table. He let Tetsurou drape his jacket around his shoulders and lead him out of the park and back through the neighborhood.  
  
Tetsurou’s parents were out on a romantic retreat, so the house was empty when Tetsurou ushered Hinata inside. He gathered some towels and the smallest, softest set of clothing he could find and left Hinata in the main bathroom while he used the tiny shower connected to his parents’ room. He stayed under the spray only long enough to wash the mud and the cold away, then dressed and toweled off his hair.   
  
Hinata had left his clothes outside the bathroom, so Tetsurou scooped them up with his own to toss in the washer. Once it was running, he stepped into the kitchen to make them some tea.  
  
He was in the middle of staring at a cup, hoping it would give him the answer to all life’s questions when Hinata padded into the kitchen. He was wearing Tetsurou’s sweatpants, the hems and waistband rolled several times to keep them up, and a towel over his fluffy hair. He held Tetsurou’s shirt in his hands, staring down at it with his lip between his teeth.  
  
“I wanted to show you,” he said.  
  
“Hinata?” Hinata only shook his head and turned around. Stretched across his lower back was a shape something like an animal on the prowl, but at the same time nothing like that at all. As Tetsurou watched, the colors shimmered and shifted between a confused green, a hopeful pink, and a hesitant yellow before it settled into a soft mother-of-pearl. Tetsurou had never seen anything like it, and the awe burning in his eyes told him why.  
  
“I used to think it was a rabbit,” Hinata said, not turning around. “When I first met them, I thought it might be Yamaguchi, and then Yachi-san. But then Yamaguchi had this shield that was so obviously Tsukishima’s mark, and Yachi-san had Shimizu-senpai’s, and then I had no idea what it was. After that first training camp, it didn’t really look like an animal anymore. And then when Kenma started inviting me over and we started spending more time together, and I realized what it was-” Hinata’s babbling cut off and a pleasant pink stretched across the back of his neck and tips of his ears and the bird on Tetsurou’s arm.   
  
“What is it?” Tetsurou asked. The blush deepened and Hinata turned around at last.  
  
“It’s a mountain,” he said. “You’re a mountain. And I’m just a bird, so you can see how I would be nervous.” Tetsurou smiled and settled a hand on Hinata’s shoulder, pulling him close. Hinata buried his face in Tetsurou’s shirt while Tetsurou wrapped his arms around him, one hand resting on his shoulder blade and the other curling in the still-damp ends of his hair.  
  
“You are what I could never hope to reach,” Tetsurou said. He watched his tattoo shimmer white and gold and blue and orange and red all at once, dazzling him. He held Hinata a little tighter. “But I promise that I’ll never stop trying.” Hinata sniffled and pressed even closer to Tetsurou.  
  
“You don’t have to try,” he whispered. “I’m right here.”  
  
“I know you are,” Tetsurou whispered.  
  
It wasn’t until well over an hour later, when they were curled around each other in Tetsurou’s bed when he remembered that he had left Kenma without an update. Tetsurou reached over Hinata to grope for his phone on the bedside table.  
  
KENMA: [text me when you find him]  
  
KENMA: [or dont]  
  
KENMA: [im assuming you found him and arent dead on the side of the road somewhere]  
  
KENMA: [not that id care if you were but id be upset if shouyou was]  
  
Tetsurou smiled and looked down at the boy drooling on his chest. He snapped a picture and sent it to Kenma.  
  
KENMA: [thats disgusting]  
  
ME: [It’s adorable and you know it]  
  
KENMA: [hes drooling]  
  
ME: [Yeah, isn’t it cute????]  
  
KENMA: [why arent you dead on the side of the road]  
  
ME: [Because then you’d be sad.]  
  
KENMA: [would not]  
  
ME: [You would]  
  
KENMA: [wouldnt]  
  
ME: [Would]  
  
KENMA: [wouldnt]  
  
“Kuroo-san, go back to sleep.” Tetsurou almost dropped his phone in surprise. He looked down to see Hinata glaring up at him, all mussed hair and bleary eyes and a shirt that was way too big. He smiled and tossed his phone to the floor.  
  
“Whatever you want, Shouyou,” he whispered. Hinata rolled his eyes and snuggled closer to Tetsurou’s chest, one hand curling in his shirt. Tetsurou closed his eyes and let the warmth and the utter contentment carry him away.

**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr](http://notsuchasecret.tumblr.com)


End file.
